Floating soap cake with included educational features



NOV. 26, 1968 DUPU|5 3,413,230

FLOATING SOAP CAKE WITH INCLUDED EDUCATIONAL FEATURES Filed July 14, 1965 INVENT OR R AYMOND P. DUPUIS BY 127W 4.4M ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,413,230 FLOATING SOAP CAKE WITH INCLUDED EDUCATIONAL FEATURES Raymond P. Dupuis, Fairfield, Calif., assignor to Novelty Associates, Fairlield, Calif., a partnership of California Continuation-impart of application Ser. No. 436,136, Mar. 1, 1965. This application July 14, 1965, Ser. No. 471,841

1 Claim. (Cl. 252-92) This invention is a continuation-in-part of my co-pending application Ser. No. 436,136, filed Mar. 1, 1965, for Floating Soap Cake with Educational Features, now abandoned.

This invention relates broadly to soap and, more particularly, is intended to provide a bar of soap of new, unusual and improved construction having improved floating qualities and, in addition, being provided with unusual features providing educational, entertainment and ornamental functions.

It is a known fact that only two commercially produced bars of soap will float on the surface of water, and that this quality is produced by the injection of air bubbles into the soap material. Other bars of soap will not float in water and when used, and therefore submerged, for an appreciable length of time rapidly disintegrate or become too soft for satisfactory use. Further, all bars of soap tend to crumble and break into numerous useless pieces when the bar reaches a certain small size. Further, bars of non-floating soap sink to the bottom of the tub where they cannot be seen and present a safety hazard.

These difiiculties, which are inherent in all non-floating bars of soap, have made it desirable and important to provide a bar of soap having floating qualities but not being subject to the added cost of air bubble injection, and the prevision of such a floating bar has been the principal object of this invention, which is achieved by any one of the various constructions described in this specification, or modifications thereof within the scope of the invention. A further and most important object which is achieved by the invention has been the provision of means which, in addition to imparting floating quality to a bar of soap, may be used to increase the sales appeal of the brand of soap utilizing the invention by incorporating, within the means which impart the floating quality to the bar, an educational, ornamental or amusing device or article which will encourage use of the soap, particularly by children.

The invention is described in the following specification and is ilustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a cake of soap with a part thereof broken away to show the means provided by the invention for imparting floating quality to the cake and for providing educational, ornamental and amusing features;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken on line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the exterior of the float producing insert which is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 embedded in the cake of soap;

FIG. 4 is a part sectional and part elevational view of a part of the insert shown in FIG. 3 when used for educational and ornamental purposes after the cake of soap has been fully used;

FIG. 5 is a view which is similar to FIG. 1 and shows a second embodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken on line 66 of FIG. 5.

In accordance with the present invention I provide a bar of soap of any desired size and shape having embedded therein a core or insert in the form of a hollow body in which air is entrapped and by reason of which floating quality is imparted to the bar. The bar of soap itself is shown at 2 in the drawings and embedded therein, preferably in the upper surface 4 of the bar, is a hollow core body 6 within which air is entrapped. This hollow core is formed of two dished members 8, 10 which are preferably of the same lateral size and shape so that their edges may be brought together with the dished areas oppositely disposed to form a hollow body. The parts 8, 10 may be formed of any suitable material, such as plastic or the like, which has greater strength than the material of the soap bar itself so that the hollow core formed by these parts will not be collapsed during the formation of the bar. The parts 8, 10 are separate or easily separable so that they may be individually positioned or manipulated after all of the soap of the bar has been used up. In making the bar of soap the soap material is cast partially or entirely about the hollow core, resulting in the provision of a bar which will float in water. While, in the accompanying drawings, I have shown the bar of soap in the general shape of a rectangular parallelepiped, this is only for purposes of illustration and it will be apparent that within the scope of the invention the bar may have any desired shape or configuration.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention which is disclosed in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 the hollow core or insert 6 is so positioned within the bar of soap that the outer surface of its one part 8 is flush with the upper surface 4 of the bar, the remainder of part 8 and all of part 10 being fully embedded in the bar, all as most clearly shown in FIG. 2. One or both of the members 8, 10 of the core, but always the lower or inner member 10, is provided with a central elongated slot 12 which is provided for the dual purposes of holding and supporting an ornamental, educational or amusing figure after the bar has been fully used, and also for anchoring the core in the described position in and adjacent the surface of the bar. This latter function is produced by the liquid soap, in the molding of the cake, flowing into and through the opening 12 into the interior of the core, forming a small mass of soap therein which is shown at 14 in FIG. 2. As stated, only a small mass of soap will be formed within the core during the manufacture of the soap bar and therefore the core will be substantially hollow, thus providing buoyancy to the finished bar. In addition, and as shown in FIG. 2, the figure 16 which, as described hereinafter, is placed within the core extends from edge to edge thereof and prevents the liquid soap from passing to that part of the core between the figure and the outer part 8 of the core, thus insuring that that part of the core body will be hollow to provide buoyancy to the bar.

Within the hollow core member 6 there is placed, prior to formation of the bar of soap, one or more articles having any desired shape and being or representing anything desired, for example the figure of a hunter 1-6 as shown in FIG. 4, each of which articles may be formed of cardboard, plastic or the like. Each article has preferably formed on it a tab or extension 18 which is so positioned and has such shape that it may be inserted in the opening 12 in either part of the core, whereby the figure is supported in upright or any other desired position. In this embodiment of the invention at least the outer or upper part 8 of the core member 6 may be made of transparent material which may be celluloid, polyethylene or the like, so that the article 16 which is enclosed within the core may be seen, thereby increasing both the sales appeal of the bar and its interest during use.

It will be apparent from the foregoing that the bar of soap provided by the invention will float in Water, with all of the advantages of that quality, and will do so with the core side 4 thereof upward at all times. This has many advantageous results, among which are that the bar wears from the bottom only and floats until all the soap is used, and the user, who may be a child, may see the novelty figure before and during use. When the bar is not in use it may be placed on a support with the outer core part 8 downward and supporting the remainder of the bar, thus forming, in effect, a soap dish for the bar of soap. When the soap part of the bar has been consumed the two parts of the core may be separated and the article or articles therein removed to provide educational, amusement or ornamental functions. If the parts have the structure described above the parts of the core body may be separated and one or both of the dished parts 8, 10 placed on a fiat surface with the dished part upward, and the tab 1 8 of an article or figure contained in the hollow core placed in the slot 12 of one of the core parts, thereby holding the article upright or in any other desired position. The provision of the hollow core and its contents will not only impart floating quality to the bar, but the fact that after the soap has been consumed there will remain a, device providing educational, ornamental and amusement functions will increase the attractiveness of the bar of soap, may be advertised to increase the sale thereof, and will encourage use of the soap, particularly by children.

In a second embodiment of the invention, which is disclosed in FIGS. and 6, the hollow core 20 is entirely embedded within the bar of soap 22, preferably at the center thereof as shown. This core body is formed by the oppositely directed dished parts 24, 26 forming a hollow body having contained therein one or more ornamental, amusing or educational figures 16 having the same construction as the figure 16 which is shown in FIG. 4. Either one or both of the dished members 24, 26 may be provided with a preferably centrally located slot 28 to receive the tab on article 16 when the soap has been consumed and the parts of the core body are used as shown in FIG. 4.

While I have described and illustrated certain forms which my invention may take, it will be apparent to those skilled in the arts to which it relates that other embodiments, as well as modifications of those disclosed, may be made and practised without departing in any way from the spirit or scope of the invention, for the limits of which reference must be made to the appended claim.

What is claimed is:

1. A bar of soap having partially embedded therein a hollow core body imparting buoyancy to the bar, said core body being formed of two separable facing outer and inner dished members having registering separable peripheral edges, the outer surface of the outer dished member being substantially flush with one exterior surface of the bar and being formed of transparent material to permit the inside of the core body to be visible from the outside, the inner dished member having an elongated narrow slot therein which is located centrally of the peripheral edge of the member to receive and support a figure in vertical position when the inner dished member is removed from the bar and positioned on its peripheral edge with its dished side and slot upward, and a separate figure within the hollow core body which is visible from the outside and which extends substantially between the peripheral edges of the two parts of the core body to prevent soap entering the core body through said slot during manufacture of the bar from entering the part of the core body between the figure and the outer dished member to thereby maintain a hollow chamber providing buoyancy to the bar of soap, said figure having a tab thereon constructed and intended to be received within the slot in the inner dished member.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 648,247 4/1900 Dunne 25292 1,636,709 7/1927 Schmidt 25292 2,045,830 6/ 1936 Brundage 248-309 2,677,913 5/1954 Swartz 25292 FOREIGN PATENTS 103,340 5/ 1926 Austria.

787,354 12/1957 Great Britain.

LEON D. ROSDOL, Primary Examiner.

W. SCI-IULZ, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A BAR OF SOAP HAVING PARTIALLY EMBEDDED THEREIN A HOLLOW CORE BODY IMPARTING BUOYANCY TO THE BAR, SAID CORE BODY BEING FORMED OF TWO SEPARABLE FACING OUTER AND INNER DISHED MEMBERS HAVING REGISTERING SEPARABLE PERIPHERAL EDGES, THE OUTER SURFACE OF THE OUTER DISHED MEMBER BEING SUBSTANTIALLY FLUSH WITH ONE EXTERIOR SURFACE OF THE BAR AND BEING FORMED OF TRANSPARENT MATERIAL TO PERMIT THE INSIDE OF THE CORE BODY TO BE VISIBLE FROM THE OUTSIDE, THE INNER DISHED MEMBER HAING AN ELONGATED NARROW SLOT THEREIN WHICH IS LOCATED CENTRALLY OF THE PERIPHERAL EDGE OF THE MEMBER TO RECEIVE AND SUPPORT A FIGURE IN VERTICAL POSITION WHEN THE INNER DISHED MEMBER IS REMOVED FROM THE BAR AND POSITIONED ON ITS PERIPHERAL EDGE WITH ITS DISHED SIDE AND SLOT UPWARD, AND A SEPARATE FIGURE WITHIN THE HOLLOW CORE BODY WHICH IS VISIBLE FROM THE OUTSIDE AND WHICH EXTENDS SUBSTANTIALLY BETWEEN THE PERIPHERAL EDGES OF THE TWO PARTS OF THE CORE BODY TO PREVENT SOAP ENTERING THE CORE BODY THROUGH SAID SLOT DURING MANUFACTURE OF THE BAR FROM ENTERING THE PART OF THE CORE BODY BETWEEN THE FIGURE AND THE OUTER DISHED MEMBER TO THEREBY MAINTAIN A HOLLOW CHAMBER PROVIDING BUOYANCY TO THE BAR OF SOAP, SAID FIGURE HAVING A TAB THEREON CONSTRUCTED AND INTENDED TO BE RECEIVED WITHIN THE SLOT IN THE INNER DISHED MEMBER. 